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     Seventy-five percent of children 12 to 17 years old enrolled in school were academically “on track” (at or above the grade level for peers their age) in 2003, up 6 percentage points since 1994, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest report on how kids are spending their days.

     A Child’s Day: 2003 [PDF] is the third examination of children’s well-being and their daily activities based on the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Nearly 1 in 4 children in the 12- to 17-year-old age group were in a special class for gifted students or did advanced work in an academic subject.

     Other highlights:

• Parents were more likely to impose restrictions on TV viewing in the last decade. For example, about 67 percent of children 3 to 5 had limits on what television shows they could watch, when, and for how long in 2003, up significantly from 54 percent in 1994.
• Eating with a parent was less likely to occur for teenagers than children under 6. In 2003, 24 percent of children 12 to 17 ate breakfast with a parent every day in a typical week, while 58 percent ate dinner together. Among children under 6, 57 percent ate breakfast with mom or dad, and 79 percent were at the table for dinner.
• About 72 percent of kids under 6 were praised by mom or dad three or more times per day, compared with 51 percent of children 6 to 11 years old and 37 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds.
• Children 1 to 2 were read to an average of 7.8 times in the previous week of the survey, while children 3 to 5 were read to an average of 6.8 times in the previous week.
• In 2003, 18 million children (38 percent) under 12 had been cared for regularly in a nonrelative child care arrangement at some point in their childhood. Nearly half (47 percent) of 3- to 5-year-olds had been in nonrelative child care — most likely preschool.
• Children 12 to 17 were more likely than children 6 to 11 to participate in sports (42 percent and 36 percent, respectively). About one-third of both groups participated in club activities.
• Aside from normal progression within a school system, 24 percent of children 6 to 11 and 41 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds had changed schools at some time since first grade. For both age groups, there was little change in these percentages since 2000, but both were lower than those reported in 1994.
• Eleven percent (2.7 million) of children 12 to 17 had been expelled or suspended from school at least once in 2003. Boys (14 percent) were more likely than girls (8 percent) to have been suspended.
• About 30 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program in 2003, including 1.6 million kids under 6, 15 million 6- to 11-year-olds and 13.4 million children 12 to 17.

     Selected tables in the report include national data for whites and non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics.